The present invention generally relates to food wrap dispensers. More particularly, the present invention relates to dispensers for substandard widths of household food wraps.
Household food wraps of the prior art include waxed paper, aluminum foil and plastic film. These food wraps are made available to the public for household uses in a standard 12" nominal-width roll housed in a quadrilateral carton dispenser having a serrated tear edge. A present difficulty in the food wrap dispensers of the prior art is the absence of means to dispense a narrower strip of food wrap. Efforts to cut or tear a standard size length of food wrap to form a narrower strip is particularly problematic when the film-type food wrap is used because of its "cling" properties. Furthermore, using the standard width food wrap on small containers or small food items results in substantial wastes of material. Various improvements in food wrap dispensers have been disclosed in the prior art but none of the improvements identified by the Applicant have been directed to means for dispensing substandard size widths of food wrap material.
The prior art improvements in food wrap dispensers have generally been directed to only three aspects of the dispenser: (1) means for constructing the dispenser carton, (2) means for removing the wrap from the carton, and (3) wrap tearing means. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,104 to Korte improvements in carton construction to reinforce points of stress concentration is disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,935 to Nelder discloses improvements in the method of forming dispensing cartons and the wrap tear edge. A unitary carton having a finger depression to facilitate removal of the wrap from a carton is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,115,891 to Tishler. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,032 to Miles a wrap dispenser having improved finger grasping means is shown. Wrap tearing improvements in the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 1,887,912 to Begle wherein a tearing edge treated with an indurating agent is disclosed; U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,809 to Finn wherein a tearing edge formed from an abrasive adhesive is disclosed; U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,029 to Kamp wherein a tearing edge is formed from a plurality of spaced-apart sharp piercing teeth disposed below and between a plurality of spaced-apart blunt projections; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,996 to Kamp wherein a tearing edge comprising a plurality of spaced-apart members having a blunt upper edge and side-extending teeth is disclosed.
As previously noted, these improvements in food wrap dispensers do not address the problems of providing substandard size widths of wrap for household use.